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Work Session Summary

In a continuing effort toward creating a collaborative culture, please find a summary of Tuesday night’s Board of Education work session. This is being forwarded to all employees and parents/community via e-communications. This is merely a summary and not to be perceived as official board minutes.

On Tuesday, April 22, 2014, the Scott County Board of Education held a work session. Members of the board heard a presentation regarding the building of a second high school from Superintendent Patricia Putty, Director of Secondary Schools Chip Southworth, Director of Finance Randy Cutright, Director of Facilities Mike Luscher, and Director of Maintenance Zan Rexroat. The discussion included topics related to current bonding potential, favorable interest rates, phase construction, timelines, and future agenda items. In the proposal, Phase I of a second high school could accommodate 700 students in grades 9-12. If action is taken, next steps under this plan would identify an architect by July 1, 2014. Phase I of a second high school could open in August 2017 with 21 classrooms in the stand-alone school, if approved. Common areas like the school library and cafeteria would be designed and built for a 1500 student capacity to accommodate future phase construction. The Scott County Board of Education will consider this plan at the meeting scheduled for May 13, 2014 at 6:30pm at the Great Crossing Office Complex.

The next order of business was discussion about the redistricting of board member voting boundaries. Members of the board shared thoughts about the disproportionate population represented currently by the five Board of Education voting districts. They also expressed a desire to ensure districts are diverse in their make-up. Members discussed split voting districts and the importance of reducing this number as a service to citizens. Scott County Clerk Rebecca Johnson presented a draft proposal to the board which more closely aligns the population in each district based on the 2010 census, the most current and reliable source of population data available for this purpose. Johnson’s proposal also eliminated the 17 split voting districts for the Board of Education. Members of the board discussed a tentative plan which could align voting districts with elementary school attendance boundary lines. The two plans will be further developed for comparison and analysis by members of the board in partnership with Rebecca Johnson after the May primary election, at the request of the Scott County Clerk.

Members of the Scott County Board of Education also reviewed the policy/procedure related to public comment at board meetings. The discussion included where public comment is located on the agenda as well as the importance of answering questions raised by community members. Members expressed desire to extend time for public comment to five minutes. Board members will review changes to this procedure at its May meeting.